In recent days, the Armenian media, and especially telegram channels, have been sharing information about presenting some toponyms in the Armenian territory in their Azerbaijani names in the subway and buses in Azerbaijan.

Blogger Alexander Lapshin, who was once imprisoned in Azerbaijan for violating the law and later pardoned, joined the worried Armenian journalists and bloggers and shared a video on his Facebook page accusing the Azerbaijani side of territorial claims against Armenia.

Faktyoxla Lab. has clarified this issue.

First, during his visit to the liberated Lachin and Kalbajar districts on August 16, 2021, President Ilham Aliyev addressed the media and citizens of the country, noting that it was right to call the lands of ancient Azerbaijan by their names. In his address, the president stated that the territory called ‘Vardenis’ by Armenians was in fact ‘Basarkechar’, and the ancient name of ‘Yeraskh’ was ‘Arazdeyen’, and suggested that these toponyms be called by their real names in the future.

The Baku Transport Agency also joined the call of the president and launched the ‘Names in History’ campaign. The purpose of the campaign is to revive the historical names of ancient Azerbaijani lands and pass them on to future generations. As part of the campaign, posters are distributed on buses on regular routes, as well as on electronic information boards at the Koroglu Transport Hub.

Second, given that Armenia was created in the lands of ancient Azerbaijan, there is nothing strange in the fact that these toponyms are in the Azerbaijani language. The Azerbaijani public is simply trying to restore historical justice by joining the president’s call.

Third, one shouldn’t forget that Armenia, which has been occupying Azerbaijani lands for 30 years, has tried to Armenianize the ancient toponyms in those territories. To this day, Armenians call Lachin region ‘Berdzor,’ Kalbajar district ‘Karvachar,’ Aghdam as ‘Akna,’ Fuzuli as ‘Varanda’ and this list can be significantly extended. It is not clear why Armenia, which kept the Azerbaijani territories under occupation for 30 years and changed the names of historical lands and toponyms, is so concerned about this issue.

Finally, what is the logic of showing and promoting the map with the territories of ‘Greater Armenia’ hanging in one of the Yerevan metro stations, which includes Azerbaijan (Nakhchivan, Karabakh), some territories of Georgia, Iran, Eastern Anatolia and even part of the Black Sea? And most importantly, is there a logical explanation why a state and its citizens with such a mindset would accuse Azerbaijan of calling the ancient Azerbaijani territories by their names?

Better have a look at this photo, which presents the territory of neighboring countries as ‘Greater Armenia.’ The photo was taken on October 6, 2020 in one of the centers of the Armenian Diaspora in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France. (Photo was shared by @laurentwauquiez on Twitter)